This photo from 4 years ago turned up in my Facebook timeline this morning.

Learning to play ukulele, playing and singing with other people, has been a challenging and rewarding self-directed learning project for me. And there have been seasons – when I first started I was excitedly practicing every day and meeting with my mostly homeschool mom friends weekly with our matching blue dolphin ukes. We went to Uke Festivals and workshops. I was so excited I wrote a song and created a photo series I call Dr. Uke says…to show what songs I was working on and how I was feeling.

It’s been ten years since Sir ken Robinson gave his inciting Ted Talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity? Since then his books and talks continue to challenge us to transform education— to value varied talents, build creativity, and help people find their element.

Here are some questions and recommendations with quotes from his book Out of Our Minds, Learning to be Creative

“It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key can be turned in two directions. Turn it one way and you lock resources away, even from those they belong to. Turn it the other way and you release resources and give people back to themselves. To realize our true creative potential—in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities—we need to think differently about ourselves and to act differently towards each other. We must learn to be creative.” —Sir Ken Robinson